sophie's fair

(c) Laura Gibson

Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving in the United States, is historically one of the busiest retail shopping days of the year. It marks the official beginning to the Christmas shopping season. The "black" in the name comes from the standard accounting practice of using red ink to denote negative values (i.e., losses) and black ink to denote positive values (profits). Black Friday is the day when retailers traditionally get back "in the black" after opening "in the red" for the previous months.
-- Wikipedia

"there's a lot of fish in the sea," i told my cousin as we sat back to gain our breath after greedily and voraciously ingesting the delectable treats laid on the table. between the creamy cheesecake factory original cheesecake and the two guys persistently in my head (i could almost swear they're camping somewhere within the folds of my left brain), i had a moment of indecision. the cheesecake won -- but only momentarily (it disappeared in under 3 minutes). my cousin readily sympathised with me while i went on and on about my dilemma. i vowed i wouldnt wait for stupid calls anymore even if it's the last i -- oops, the phone's ringing gotta reach for my bag, quick!
afterwards, we all went to the movie theatre to watch the incredibles. there were a good number of people (thanksgiving night, 1° freezing weather and all), and we went in armed with popcorn, nachos and diet coke. the movie was "incredibly" hilarious (if i were not so left-brain-drained, i'd say it presents a challenge to flesh out our identity and come out of uniformity. edna mode really cracked me up, by the way), i recommended it to my other best friend, but that's getting ahead of my story. on the road toward home, i marveled at the beauty of the night and started to count my blessings. God has indeed been good to me and my family. it was a peachy thanksgiving.

I am a big, fat turkey
You can't have my head.
I'll sit with you at dinner.
We'll eat a duck instead!

1 am and i still couldnt sleep. nothing to watch, all 300 channels and there wasnt anything remotely interesting... might i remind the cable industry that it's the holidays?? tired of flipping through channels, i decided to check whether my other best friend was still up. yup! still working at half past 2! he said it was scheduled (i hate the word), so i kept him company for a little while. i did the talking of course, complaining that i'd have to starve for the next few days or i wouldnt be able to fit in my jeans again. he made me shut up when he talked about his best guy friend's wedding and that he's going to be the best man and i might be his date if i were with him before the event.
i thought about my best friend that i havent talked to yet, whose best guy friend just bought a house for his soon-to-be wifey (??). isnt it funny, not only are those two guys the same in every way -- same age, same height, same frame but have best guy friends with names that start with a D? how ironic. i should be excited that i have two boyishly goodlooking best friends i equally like, so why do i feel confused and empty?
anyway, today is d-day for all shopaholics, bargain-hunters and early christmas shoppers. my cousin promised to wait outside bestbuy a quarter to 6 (doors open at 6).

B oulevards lined with pretty shops,
U p and down the pedestrians stroll
Y et every now and then one darts
I nto a shop whose window is
N ot unattractive, an attention
G etter...

T he person then emerges,
R eturns to the thoroughfare
I n continued dedication to
N ot going anywhere special, not
K nowing what next store,
E ven next moment, will
T ake their fancy. Afterwards,
S how and Tell is what is all about.
-- John B. Moss

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Americans stormed the nation's shops the day after Thanksgiving, the traditional start of the holiday shopping season, lured by cut-price toys and consumer electronics.
Shoppers flooded into shops as doors opened at 5 a.m. on Friday and logged onto Web sites with retailers offering big markdowns, hoping to win customers on one of the biggest shopping days of the year.
Early-bird specials lured shoppers into long lines outside malls as early as 2:30 a.m. One man in Texas slept in his car outside a store to be the first in line.
"Video games and movies are the No. 1 seller with a lots of new games out this year," said Patrick Gates, senior vice president of e-commerce at America Online, a unit of Time Warner Inc.
A survey by the leading U.S. retail trade group, the National Retail Federation, estimated that up to 130 million consumers -- from a population of about 290 million -- would go shopping over Thanksgiving weekend.
The Thanksgiving-to-Christmas holiday shopping season accounts for 23 percent of annual retail revenue, with sales seen reaching $220 billion this year, according to the NRF.

i sure cant wait for christmas (presents)! or maybe, i should just ask santa to choose for me -- blue eyes or green-flecked brown?